My Passion
by supersdude
Summary: "Ben!" "I think Jedi Skywalker is a better response" he said as he looked into the eyes of Vestara Khai. Four years after the events of Apocalypse Ben has finally found Vestara. What does he want from her after all this time, and what lies beneath the surface. Post FotJ.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hello there! First I have to say, my summaries suck so if you clicked on this story thanks for giving it a chance! I've just finished the Fate of the Jedi series so naturally I have muse. As a whole i'd give the series a B- or B. It had it's great and good moments but also it's bleh moments. HOWEVER. The ending of Ben/Vestara (while probably completely rational) was not acceptable! I wasn't happy with it at all. I was going to make an AU ending to Apocalypse, which i still might, but I decided for this story instead. I can't promise there won't be spoilers so just in case consider this a** SPOILER WARNING**. if you haven't finished or plan to read the FotJ series.

* * *

Vestara Khai raced through the dense jungle, her light brown hair sticking to her forehead as she brushed aside another tree branch. The humidity in the hair meant that after running the first few meters she was sweating profusely. Now she had lost track of how far she had traveled into the overgrowth or how much fluid she had lost.

_This would be so much easier if I hadn't lost my lightsaber_ she considered, but there was no time to dwell on it. Although she could not hear her pursuer, she knew they were there and if she slowed down even for a second it might be the last thing she did.

Leaping over a fallen log she went into a roll as she landed and dashed to her right instead of standing. Stowing herself under a mix of rocks and small plants she withdrew herself from the force until she was just a small spec. She quieted her breathing and simply waited.

Sure enough, she heard someone moving along the trail she had ducked away from. As she suspected it wasn't their footsteps that gave them away, so it had to be a force user or someone who stepped in humanely quiet. It was the sound of cloth brushing against the leaves and branches that alerted her to someone's moving presence.

She didn't dare let out a sigh of relief as the sounds grew fainter. Instead she began a counter in her head. When it had finally reached twenty minutes Vestara extended her sense in the force, reaching for any sign of life larger than a bug or common animal. When she felt none, the Sith woman cautiously rolled out from under her hiding place. Cautiously she stood, dusting the dirt off of her.

At twenty years of age Vestara Khai looked even more stunning than four years ago when she first ventured into the galaxy. Her light brown hair, though dark with sweat currently, extended past her shoulders to her mid back. The painted markings covered her sharp facial features and the small scar she bore was barely visible. Still despite her beauty she now had the look of a hardened and experienced woman beyond her years. There would be no more fooling people into thinking she was an innocent sixteen year old girl.

Her hands moved about her belt doing a quick reconnaissance of what she had left. CommLink, crushed. Lightsaber, gone. Well she had made it out of these situations with less before.

Vestara finally took the time to take in her surroundings. As she had suspected she was well into the dense jungle and it was all she could see in every direction. Glancing up at the sun she tried to judge how many hours of sunlight she had while keeping in mind that her pursuer was most likely still in the jungle somewhere.

Deciding to go for a better look she jumped on to the nearest and lowest branch and took a look around to see if her attacker was anywhere to be seen. Seeing and sensing nothing she decided to venture higher until finally she had a good look of the jungle. Not to mention it gave her good protection among the more leaves.

Her eyes took in the area, it seemed that the best direction to go in would be East. The jungle seemed less dense in that direction and –

Before Vestara could finish her thinking she felt a large force collide with her and knock her off the tree. Falling through the sky she felt two arms around her and realized it was a person. As the ground grew closer faster she used the Force to disentangle their bodies and then aid her as she somersaulted into a smooth landing. Normally a fall such as that would shatter every leg bone in a person's body but to a jedi, or in this case sith, it was nothing.

She had barely looked up when her attacker came flying at her again. With no time to act she felt herself pinned against the moist jungle ground, her chest heaving as she breathed hard.

"_Ben?"_

There was no use trying to hide her shock in the force as it was written all over her face. His hair was longer, but still that flaming red of his mother, and his features were chiseled, but the same sky blue eyes stared back at her though their gaze was hard and focused.

"I think Jedi Skywalker is a better response" his tone lacked that playful youth that Vestara was so used to and his lack of reaction showed that he wasn't as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

"_You're_ the one that's been chasing me on this planet?" she questioned, the initial shock leaving her features though her mind was still putting it together. The fact that he was firmly pinning her to the ground was the first indicator that it wasn't a friendly reunion.

"I've been chasing you for four years actually" he replied tilting his head, "But specific to this moment, yes, it's been me."

The was a brief flash of sorrow in the sith's eyes but she quickly removed it. This was the first time in a long time she had thought about her actions and the events four years ago, when she departed Ben and his Jedi family. She hadn't forgotten him but rather forced herself to stuff it into a side pocket of her mind and lock it away along with the emotions associated with the memory. Now she felt them all flooding back but refused to let the dam break.

"If you wanted a second date all you had to do was ask" she replied, her teasing tone doing nothing to soften his expression. "So why have you been chasing me for four years _Jedi Skywalker_?"

"I'm a Jedi, you're a Sith. It's my job to make sure you don't threaten the galaxy" despite the finality to his words, Ves didn't believe them for a moment, or at least that they were the full truth.

"Well then what are you waiting for? End the threat" her voice was cold as she stared up into his eyes. Silently searching for a trace of the sixteen year old jedi boy that had stolen her heart and when she found none, a piece of her broke inside.

"There's more ways to diffuse a threat than killing someone. Not that you would know" he finally spoke.

"Like turning them to the light?" she sneered.

For the first time his eyes dropped and Vestara immediately regretted her words. "No…I learned from my mistake. It only took about twenty times" his eyes returned to hers, the steely coolness back in them. "Besides I have my own motives."

Vestara quirked a curious eyebrow, "A personal vendetta? That's not very jedi-like, Ben"

"Jedi Skywalker" he corrected. "You're coming with me, Saber Khai."

"Lady Khai, actually" she corrected with a prideful grin. She still felt glory at being announced a Lord at age sixteen by Ship. It was one of the memories she still clung onto and had not locked away.

Ben's gaze simply darkened, "A Sith Lord. Maybe I should just kill you then."

Vestara had to resist a shiver at the way his words came out. If she had not recognized him she would have doubted this was the same Ben Skywalker that she met four years ago in the Maw. There was something different about him, maybe it was just experience. "What happen to you Ben?"

Her tone was considerably softer and surprising even herself she opened herself to the force, attempting to embrace him only to feel his essence retract from hers and another piece of her heart silently falling apart at his words.

"You happened."

* * *

**A/N: **annddd there's the first chapter! I usually write more than this and I was planning to, but I just felt like that was a fairly strong way to end the opening chapter, don't you? Kindly review and review kindly (: thoughts, comments, creative criticism is always welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** So I got the second chapter done pretty quickly :D A big shoutout goes to my first two reviewers **Brom Norage **and **19James92!** I know it's sometimes a hassle to click the review button so i definitely appreciate the feedback (: without further ado here is chapter two and i'll see you at the end of the chapter.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea for this story.**

******-MPMPMPMPM- **signifies a change in scene.

* * *

Vestara sat in the familiar bay of the Jade Shadow, her hands bided together with cuffs. She and Ben both knew that if she really wanted to escape he'd need more than just cuffs to stop her. Then again, flying through hyperspace there wasn't many places she could practically go even if she did free herself. Not to mention part of her wanted to see what was going to happen to her.

This wasn't the first time she had been a hostage on the _Jade Shadow_ and she made a mental note to stop making a habit of it. Glancing around she saw that not much had changed in four years. In fact, almost everything seemed to be in the same condition as she remembered it. That would certainly come in handy if she ever to _did_ need to escape.

Hearing the sound of boots against metal, her gaze turned to the hallway and she saw the son of Luke Skywalker leaning against the wall. Not drenched in sweat and bearing down on her, he didn't look half as menacing as he had early. She could almost make out some of that boyish charm to his features, but only barely. Ben Skywalker was a man now and she quietly wondered if her Ben still existed.

"So what are you going to do, turn me over to your Jedi council?" she spoke with contempt in her voice, not showing any signs of the emotional thoughts in her mind.

Ben considered her for a moment before he shook his head. "No." Taking a seat in the chair across from her, he held her gaze for a moment before carrying on, "I probably should. I'm sure Uncle Han would love to get a crack at you too after all this time" a pause "but no. I told you I had my own ends first."

They sat in silence for a moment as she took in his words. She supposed she should be grateful that he wasn't killing her or turning her over to the Jedi but at the same time she wondered if death would be better than the resurgence of emotion and guilt she was feeling.

"You want to know why I did it" she finally stated. "Why I betray you then and left. I was a Sith spy the entire time. It was all just part of a plan, including you."

Despite the icy tone to her voice and serious look she wore, a smile crept upon Ben's features. "You know…I wish I could believe that. I spent four years trying to convince myself that it was the truth. That it was honestly that simple; you were the bad guy the whole time." He went quiet and seemed to be choosing his next words carefully, or whether he wanted to say them at all. "When you were crying in your cabin and I held you, you weren't a sith spy… you were just a normal, hurt sixteen year old girl. So no, even if I wanted to believe that I couldn't."

Before Vestara could find her tongue to respond, the adult Jedi was getting up and walking back towards the cockpit, leaving Vestara with her thoughts. It seemed that Ben had full memory of their past and planned to break down the Lady piece by piece, reminding her of it even if she refused to remember the moments herself.

**-MPMPMPMPM-**

"What have you been up to?" he asked as he dug into his meal "Aside from, y'know being an evil Sith Lord."

It seemed that they were going to be flying for a long time until they reached…wherever they were going. And Ben, insisting that he wasn't cruel to his captives like the Sith, offered her food while he ate his. Still, he hadn't removed her stun cuffs. She had the slightest of urges to smile at the emergence of his familiar humor and habits. _So he does still have some of my Ben in him_, she thought remembering the first place he wanted to show her in the Jedi Temple had been the cafeteria.

"Why would I tell you that? For all I know you _are _taking me to Coruscant and could use anything I say to charge me with those crimes."

Ben was silent as he held her gaze, chewing another mouthful of food. "Well I said _aside_ from being a Sith Lord. You haven't picked up any hobbies in four years?"

Vestara gave him a sarcastic smile, "Not exactly."

Silence fell over them again, and she ignored the guilt as she felt some annoyance from him in the force. His attempt at conversation had been innocent enough, and maybe she should have been nicer if they were in fact in for a long ride but Vestara was starting to think a future escape plan wasn't so bad. She had spent four years building herself and rebuilding her life and she wasn't going to let it crumble because of one red-haired young adult.

"I didn't think your tribe would take you back" Ben finally commented, his eyes still glued to his bowl. Vestara eyed him for a moment before shrugging.

"Who says I went back to my tribe?"

At this Ben's eyes moved up to hers, despite his best attempts to remain calm and casual. "So you found another group of Sith then? I shouldn't be surprised, Ship is probably perfectly capable of finding more ancient civilizations." The statement was one that disturbed him but what Vestara didn't know was that the Jedi Order was already aware that there was another group of Sith hiding at the edges of the galaxy. After the defeat of Abeloth his father had informed them of the man with tattoos and how he had not been a part of the Lost Tribe.

Since that battle there had been no sign of him, however the Lost Tribe had been unnoticed for centuries so it would be no surprise if the tattoo man had disappeared to an equally remote location.

For her part Vestara remained impassive and simply shrugged her shoulders, "I can't have been on my own for four years? Give me some credit Ben."

"A Sith girl flying around in a throbbing eye ship doesn't exactly go unnoticed. But nice to see you haven't stopped the habit of lying to me, Ves."

There it was again.

Vestara wasn't liking the way he could make her feel guilty for her actions with a few words. How he could tug at her heartstrings with a change of tone. The fact that he had used her nickname, which essentially _no one_ did, only made it worse. Still she remained impassive but she wasn't sure how much longer she could manage it.

She was a Lady of the Sith yet this mere Jedi Knight was breaking down her walls without an effort and she was sure she'd burst soon. Maybe that was his plan. Not to turn her, but emotionally break her. If so she was in for a very long ride. Getting up without another word the chains of her cuffs clanked as she made her way to her cabin.

**-MPMPMPMPM-**

Ben Skywalker stared up at the ceiling of his cabin as he had been for the past two hours. Since laying in bed he had not once had the urge to actually fall asleep and he had the urge to reach out and see if Vestara was stirring as he was. But he resisted. Truth be told Ben wanted nothing more than to embrace her, tell her how much he missed her and how he had forgiven her for everything she had done. After all, Allana was a healthy teenager now and well alive despite Vestara's actions in that hangar.

He still couldn't get her reaction to seeing him out of his mind. The genuine shock and then the slow change as she heard his words were imprinted in his recent memory. Truth be told his reaction probably would have been much the same had he not had time to prepare.

When Ben had seen her step off of her ship, which oddly was not _the_ Ship, his heart had stopped and he knew at that moment that even after four years and countless betrayals, he still loved Vestara Khai. He had been able to stow away his emotions as he went in pursuit of her and even as they sat on the ship, but now in the still of the night they threatened to overtake him.

It shouldn't have been a surprise to him that he still harbored these feelings. Perhaps he was just doing a really good job of fooling himself all this time. But then again, Ben was twenty years old, the son of Luke Skywalker, and as his Aunt Leia put it 'a charming and handsome young man'. Which honestly wasn't that comforting coming from your Aunt. But all signs pointed to him at least having had a few girlfriends by this point but the case was he only had Vestara. If you could even call what they had a relationship. Considering she had been playing him, or so she said, Ben liked to think otherwise.

His lack of relationships and determination to find her again should have been a warning sign for what he was feeling now.

As his mind continued to run amuck with thoughts, Ben's eyelids were drooping shut when he heard the _snap hiss_ of his bedroom door. His sleepiness forgotten he immediately sat up, calling his lightsaber to his hand.

In the blue light of the blade he could just make out Vestara's form. He let out a relaxed breath as he turned off the lightsaber. "Ves—" his words suddenly caught in his throat as he looked her over. Now that his danger sensors weren't ringing he had time to take her in and that was a very bad thing.

The son of the great Luke Skywalker was rendered speechless as Vestara stood only in her undergarments, her matured figure exposed to him. She certainly was not a teenager anymore, though even as a 'couple' he had not seen her like this.

His eyes suddenly stopped, his danger sense pricking in the force again as Vestara started to move towards him. "Where are your cuffs—"

"Sssh" before he could finish his question she had covered the space between them and placed a single finger against his lips. "I didn't want to leave you four years ago…"

Her voice was soft and Ben could feel his heart beating like a hammer. They might not be teenagers anymore but he certainly felt like one at the moment. "T-Then why did you" he muttered, looking up to eyes as she now sat straddled over him.

"Because I knew I couldn't go back…the was no place for me with the Jedi"

"There was a place with me."

She was quiet for a moment looking away from him. Ben felt his hands finding her hips as he brushed against her shoulder. Finally pulling his chin to look up at her she spoke, "I'm with you now." No more words were spoken as her lips crashed against his.

Ben shot up with a start, his body covered in sweat. It took him a moment to take in his surroundings and realize Vestara wasn't sitting on top of him…or kissing him. "It was just a dream…" he ran a hand through his hair before he registered a steady knocking and someone calling his name.

"Ben? Are you alright?"

_Just the person he wanted to see. _he thought sourly. Throwing the covers off, Ben moved to open the door to his cabin. "Ben I—"

"Let me see your wrist" he lifted her arms without waiting for a response and was relieved to see that she was still bound. So it was just a dream.

Vestera now looked at him with a frown on his face, obviously put off by his rude action. "I sensed something odd about you in the force, I just came to check if you were alright." She pulled her hands away from him, her eyes briefly falling to his chest as she realized he was only in his underwear. "Unfortunately it seems your fine" despite the visual distraction she didn't let the venom slip from her tone. Turning on her heel she worked her way back to her own cabin leaving Ben in his doorway.

He had been too shaken up to try and hold a conversation or apologize. That dream had felt more real than a force vision and it was taking a moment for him to shake it out of his system.

Hitting the button for the door to hiss close, Ben practically threw himself back onto his bed. Maybe keeping Vestara wasn't such a good idea for his health or his heart.

**-MPMPMPMPM-**

"Now that I'm practically staring at the planet, care to tell me where we're going?"

Vestara's knowledge of the galaxy had grown in the four years since traveling with Ben and his father. The being said as she looked out the viewport at the planet before her she couldn't recognize it in the least. The fact that it seemed to be covered in mostly water told her it wasn't Coruscant and she let some relief flow through her.

Ben remained silent for a long moment and Ves turned her head to look at him. Whatever had happened to him last night seemed to have a certain effect on him. When eating dinner there was a hint of the kindness that she knew but now the icy expression from when he captured her in the jungle returned. She was more than happy to give him the mood. Last night she had felt a spike in his force presence. While it hadn't been one of fear she took it upon herself to see if anything was wrong and the first thing he does is check if her stun cuffs were still on!

She made her resolve that night when she went back to bed. That was the nature of their relationship now: captive and captor. It wasn't as if it was a new situation to her, and she would make her escape when the opportunity presented itself.

"Naboo."

His sudden response caught her by surprise but she quickly composed herself. "I guess it would be a stretch to question what you're doing here?"

"No, it would be a stretch to think you're going to get an answer" despite Ben's cool tone she could see a grin tugging at the corner of his lips. Vestara simply rolled her eyes and resumed looking out the viewport when she heard his voice continue. "There are some negotiations between the native people that have gone a bit sour. I'm the Jedi advisor."

"Aren't there more important things for Jedi to be doing than playing babysitter to some politicians?" she commented, her disapproval clear in her voice.

"We are keepers of peace" Ben chastised her. "If these talks break down it could lead to a loss of peace." In response the Sith Lady simply rolled her eyes. Jedi could be so small minded. "You'll be coming with me so take off that scowl."

Vestara gave him a look that held a mix of curiosity and amusement. "You're going to give me a chance to escape? I thought you were done trusting me, Jedi Skywalker?" Her words came out a bit more mocking than she intended but there was no sign of an apology.

"Well it's either take you where I can keep an eye on you or lock you up in the _Shadow_ and risk you stealing my ship. Surely even you can see the better option" Ben explained, seeming to ignore the last part of her statement.

"Yeah, let me try to steal your ship" Ben merely snorted at her response as if to say _'yeah that'll happen'_.

Their conversation ended there and soon Ben was communicating with air traffic control as they directed him to the proper landing bay. As they entered the atmosphere, Vestara allowed herself to be wowed by the natural surroundings. Naboo seemed to have a beauty in nature that suddenly reminded her of her home planet. Then of course she remembered how her home people treated her and quickly steeled herself up.

As Ben landed the _Jade Shadow _he got up and motioned her to follow him. "I can't have you walking around in stun cuffs, don't make me regret this choice, Ves." His eyes met hers and she could see how much he wanted her to prove his decision right, and it tore at her heart once more.

She swallowed for a moment before giving him a wry smirk, "No promises, Jedi."

* * *

**A/N: **What do you think? This chapter had a lot of flip-flopping between emotions, which might get a bit confusing but I think it's rationale (or I least it comes across as rationale) Ben and Vestara loved each other so that urge and feeling to just take the other back is always going to be there but they can't just forget the past, so it turns into a struggle of hot and cold. I'm hoping it came off well and didn't get too ooc. Also i'm sure you realized it but the going to take care of negotiations on Naboo is definitely a nod to the past and Ben's own history as his grandmother was there the last time peace negotiations involving Jedi went underway. The story will be more of a romance/drama story than an adventure one but I will be explaining what Ves has been up to and it may lead to some action.

hope you guys enjoyed it! kindly review and review kindly (:

p.s. the title 'My Passion' comes from the song My Passion by Akcent if you wanted to check it out.


End file.
